


BAMH

by wegethejobdone



Series: The Adventures of The Gaytastic Four & Co [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: #SorryAndy, Accidentally inhaling dangerous drugs, Alex can drive, Archery, Beta Read, Borderline crack, Broken Bones, Fantastic Racism, Gen, Gore, Hipster lesbians, I gave up sleep to write this, Implied/Referenced Torture, It's just gay, Murder, My First Work, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Overlying Gayness, Recreational Drug Use, Superpowers, The Plot Thickens, Underlying Gayness, Vigilantism, Violence, but it's only really in one scene, edgy piercings, it isnt that bad i swear, my dad was right about me, the plot is thicc, the plot thiccens, wow this got dark fast
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-07-01 15:28:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15776895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wegethejobdone/pseuds/wegethejobdone
Summary: Police departments across the country refuse to investigate crimes between 'defects', people possessing extraordinary abilities, because of their dangerous and unpredictable nature. This leads to defects stealing from and murdering the other defects in their communities to acquire more power.A small group of defects take up the job to police their community in an attempt to restore order and protect innocent defecrs. However, on a missing defect case, the group stumbles across something much more deadly.Rated explicit for graphic descriptions of violence and probably a lil bit of character death too





	1. A Case Closed

"I am never doing this again."

A strangled grunt left Monika as she hoisted the bag up to rest on her shoulder. Now, so close to her face, the metallic scent of blood hit her with full force. It was all she could do not to gag. They didn't have time to wash puke off of the bag if either of them threw up. 

"You said that last time."

Monika couldn't see Beth's face in the dim orange glow of the alley, but she could hear the amusement in her voice underneath the strain. Slowly, Monika followed Beth's lead through the dark, the bag balancing between their shoulders.

"It's here, lid's open I think."

With that, they both let the bag slip into the dark. A shuddering crash echoed out of the bin, Monika cringed at the volume. An exchanged glance was all they needed to know that it was time to leave. Beth nodded, confirming to Monika that she could leave Beth behind and take to the rooftops by herself. It never felt right; Beth was small and couldn't fight her way out of a biodegradable paper bag, but they'd be less noticeable if they split up.

Listening to the wet footsteps fading away, Monika reassigned her focus to the force around her. It was steady, untouched, untampered with. As she braced her foot against the wall, Monika felt herself biting her lip with anticipation. Gravity itself rested just beneath her fingers. Grabbing onto the force, she flipped it over, her weight shifting onto the wall. Then she was running upwards.

She powered up the wall, the view of the starry night sky before her propelling her onwards. Boot on brick echoed off of the alley walls. When she reached the top, she released her hold on the force, letting it return to it's natural order and continued across the roof without a stumble. A smug grin worked its way up her face.

Now she was at the top, she could see her path laid out for her. The town looked almost peaceful from where she stood, night air whipping around her. Nine blocks away from the pick up and not much time before someone checks out that dumpster. She'd have to be fast. No sloped rooves. Fucking bingo.

She took off across the roof, unusually energised for how late it was. Maybe it was something to do with the dead body in the bin, but she was kicking a lot harder than she thought she would. Hopefully it would last.

Rolling as she landed on the next roof, she caught her breath before belting off again. Fuck, fatigue was catching up on her. Between having to carry a dead overweight man fifty yards in the cold, sprinting across walls, and exercising her control over the forces of nature; she was tired. She couldn't slow, it'd risk too much.

Once she'd reached the grimey Chinese takeaway with a low roof, she hopped down and made her way across the street. It wasn't long before she reached the truck, nearly alone in the middle of a deserted carpark, in all of its conspicuous glory.

Movement in her peripherals made Monika's head turn on instinct. Beth was slowly making her way towards Monika, hands on her hips and breathing heavy. When their eyes met, Beth's gaze shot to the concrete beneath them.

"I was kind of hoping I'd beat you here." An attempt at a joke, fatigue weighed Beth's voice down.

"You'll have to be quicker than that."

Beth huffed and followed Monika into the truck. They clambered into the back together, shuddering as they were submerged in the early morning chill. Monika swore that she could've fallen asleep right there in the car seat; the cold, and the anxieties over the body, easily falling away. Fate, however, wasn't ready to give Monika a break.

"I've been freezing my tits off in here, what took you guys so long?" Fate, today, came in the form of one Alex Hodgkins. He glanced back at them from the driver's seat, hands clenched over his arms.

"Good to see you too, Al." Beth hummed, sounding about as tired as Monika felt. The truck rumbled to life and they began to shift. As the car rolled out of the carpark, it felt like it was rocking Monika to sleep.

"He wasn't willing to pack up and leave so we packed his bags for him." Monika was a comedy genius.

"I don't understand." Alex furrowed his eyebrows in the rear view mirror.

"We cut him up and shoved him in a bag." Annoyance edged into Beth's tone, Monika doubted it was at Alex. Most likely she was frustrated that they had failed, they were so sure that they could get him to leave without a fight. Now Monika had time to sit, she was replaying the events in her head, wondering where they could've done things differently. Her tired mind wouldn't let her dwell on it for long.

By the time they got back to the house, Monika was no less exhausted. In the light of the hallway, she could now see the dark and crusted blood stains that plastered the two of them. Alex's face crinkled as he passed them both in the hall. Monika silently prayed that she would be able to get the stains out of her clothes, as she was running out of hoodies. Her watch beeped at her: 3:00. Too early to go down to the dry cleaners, that wasn't an option anyway, considering Monika could barely stand up.

She chucked her bloody clothes in the kitchen sink and crept up to her designated bedroom. The four of them had been living in the same house since they decided to start the agency. It was a small house and the walls were thin but what other options did they have? Hollie must've already been asleep, no doubt she worried when they didn't turn up before midnight. She'd been working on the Lewis case for days with barely any leads, now that they'd concluded all of their other cases, it would have all of their attention.

Monika smiled sadly, the Lewis case was the highest profile case they'd ever had to deal with. Some girl had gone missing and her family had come to the agency after being turned away by the authorities. Their county was one of the few with a defect majority, so most of the crimes committed there went without investigation. That's why the agency was set up, there needs to be something to police and help these people, or else everything would fall into chaos.

The girl could've been kidnapped, could've run away, could've been killed by someone in the street. No bags packed, no note, nothing. Dealing with power thieves and murderers was one thing, but a life hanging in the balance was a new kind of responsibility for all of them.

Monika pulled the bedsheets over her shoulders. The Lewis case was a problem for Future Monika, right now she was tired.


	2. Fletcher

A brisk rapping of knuckles against the front door was all that Mrs Lewis needed to be out of her seat. She'd spent all day cursing the police department, worrying about her child, praying for a distraction. And yes, she understood, she did, that it would be dangerous for the police to get involved with defect issues. But this was her girl, she was still just a child, she'd barely even left school. Sniffling, Mrs Lewis opened the door and daylight flooded the hallway.

A young woman stood in the doorway, folder tucked under one arm, sunlight shining down on her. She was short, wearing a neat blouse tucked into her skirt. Shoulders relaxed, but not slouched. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail that tumbled and curled down the back of her neck. Warmth resonated from her smile, her eyes were soft and crinkled at the corners.

"Hello Mrs Lewis, my name is Detective Fletcher, I'm here to talk to you about your daughter."

Mrs Lewis stood in the doorway, eyebrows threatening to merge with her hairline, Hollie wondered if she was expecting someone else.

"U—Um yes, please do come in. Would you like anything? Tea? Coffee?" Mrs Lewis stumbled over her words as she lead Hollie into the living room of the house.

"No, thank you,"

Mrs Lewis gestured for Hollie to sit down on one of the armchairs, before taking up her own place across from Hollie. Her movements were never sure of themselves, always hesitating or retreating, hands reaching out before darting straight back to her sides. It was understandable that she would be nervous considering her delicate situation. Hollie opened her file.

"I have everything you told the police here, but there are some things I want to chase up. Would you be okay if I asked some questions?"

Mrs Lewis nodded a lot.

"When was the last time you saw your daughter?" Hollie kept her voice gentle but Mrs Lewis still fidgeted at the question.

"About six months ago, she left to work in another county. She stopped answering our calls about a month ago." She whispered.

"Was she happy with her work?"

"Yes, she loved it. She was working with animals, veterinary." Mr Lewis smiled sadly and Hollie's heart ached a little. However, it was a solid lead, a small victory.

"Did she mention anyone she knew there? Friends, co-workers?"

"No, nobody. Whenever we called, she always talked about work, she's always put her studies before anything else."

Intelligent, hard worker, antisocial perhaps. Where would be the motive to hurt her? It was unlikely that people would know that she was a defect, if there was a telepath in the area, it could have sniffed her out. But a telepath would have little reason to kill another defect. That only left—

"What was your daughter's ability?" When she looked up, she saw Mrs Lewis eying her suspiciously. Abilities were somewhat taboo in the community, if another defect decided that they wanted what you had, they could take it by force.

"Mrs Lewis," Hollie closed her folder "this will be completely off of the record, I just need to know how dangerous she is in the rare possibility that she has lost herself."

"Right, right, of course. The doctor we went to named her abilities florakinesis and animal communication." Hollie sucked in a breath. That's going to be a lot on their plate, those abilities would be desirable and hard to hide, if she was working alongside them everyday. A car door slammed outside. She closed her folder and stood up.

"Thank you, Mrs Lewis, we have everything we need. Don't worry, we'll find your daughter."

 

*

 

Mrs Lewis was not at all prepared in case her house got burgled. She straight up left the bedroom windows open all day, all of the family's personal belongings sprawled across desks or cabinets for the world to see. Someone could be in and out without having to break anything or attract attention. Luckily for him, Alex was that someone.

Getting through the window was unexpectedly easy (thank you, Mr Lewis, for not putting a padlock on your ladder). Once inside, he released the breath he was holding, deactivating his ability. Invisibility isn't very fun, if it only works when you hold your breath. He had crawled into the master bedroom, most likely owned by Mr and Mrs Lewis. Slowing his breathing, he kept to the edges of the room – just like he was taught – in order to avoid creaky floorboards. Even now, he could hear Beth instructing him, nagging him to keep his hands in front of him so that he doesn't knock anything over.

Out in the hallway, he saw a door with coloured letters on it 'GEORGIA'. They never took the letters down, Alex pushed down any sympathies towards the family, he didn't have much time. The door handle turned satisfyingly quietly.

Sunlight poured into the small room, reflecting off of polished shelves and white sheets. Candles and plants littered the windowsill, the soil was damp and a jug of water sat beside them. Books littered the cramped shelves, stacked in front of each other where there wasn't enough room for all of them. A danity desk sat next to the bed, brandishing clusters of jewellery in dishes and seashells in bags and momentos and photographs.  
Alex set to work, checking through drawers, through the shelves, under the bed, in boxes. Most of the stuff he found was meaningless: pandora charms, foreign currancies, a pair of diamond earrings, nothing that could be of use. It was all precious gems and fine jewelery.

He caught sight of a necklace on the desk and knew that they needed it. It was just a tangle of string really, cheap thread, a tumble seashells and beads threaded onto it. One of the beads was cracked and the clasp had rusted. Yes, this was perfect. 

Alex held the necklace delicately as he retreated back down the ladder. When he got into the truck, he lay it on the dash gingerly and slammed the door hard to signal Hollie. When his partner emerged, she said her goodbyes to Mrs Lewis, smoothed her skirt, and drifted back to the truck.

"Get anything good?" She asked as she buckled up. Alex handed her the necklace and watched her smile lift when she felt it in her hands.

"Good job, Al, this is really good." She could feel the connection between herself and the girl already forming. Drowning in the smell of vanilla and the ocean.

"It was the only handmade thing in there, figured she'd keep it for a reason." Alex smiled and pulled out of the drive "Did you get any new information?"

"The girl is really strong, anyone could've taken her power. I'm thinking that if this doesn't work," she lifted the necklace "then we should head over there and I'll see if I can track any power thieves in the area."

"Power thieves? In this part of the country?" Alex's heart began it pound, he couldn't imagine anything worse. 

"According to Monika, there is more in the area than we thought. We'll just have to be careful from now on." Hollie informed.

Alex knew that he shouldn't be worried about power thieves, together they were more than capable at defending themselves. But seeing how Monika and Beth were Wednesday night shook Alex a little. He'd thought that they were past the days of having to kill defects in order to keep the public safe, maybe they'd never passed it at all and he just hadn't noticed.

"Alex slow down a bit, you're going to hit something." Hollie's voice was gentle but it still managed to pull Alex out of whatever trance he'd been in. They pulled up to refil the tank and Alex called Beth to give her an update on the investigation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realised that my phone doesn't underline typos so I hope I didn't fuck this one up


	3. Fresh Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika and Beth try to sneak in some day activities whilst they are waiting for Hollie and Alex to get back.

Smoke hung so thick in the room that Monika could make distorted faces out of it. The sunlight that filtered through the blinds barely reached the floor through the cloud. 

"Close the door."

Beth stood hunched over her desk, a thin cigarette hanging from the fingertips of her free hand. Her head craned to see Monika, who stood in the doorway.

"I'm not sure, I'm thinking some fresh air would do you good. Any news from Hollie and Alex?" Monika strolled into the room and leant against a cabinet.

"Hollie called, said we have a girl with florakinesis and animal communication that we either need to find or find the body of." Beth waved her cigarette around as she looked over some papers on her desk.

"Yikes. When are they going to be back?"

"I don't know, they pulled up somewhere so that Hollie could do her mind thing to scout the girl's last location."

"Fuck," Monika hissed. Beth looked up.

"What?"

"I told her I wanted to see that, the next time she did it." She keened.

"Jesus, Monika, we have bigger shit to worry about right now," She grabbed a wad of paper on her desk "If you want something to do, check over these ability reports and help me think up a decent strategy."

Interestingly, Monika did go over the reports. Most of them were voluntary studies documented by scientists that were studying defect abilities. Animal communication wouldn't be too much of an issue, from what it suggested on the reports, it looked like animals would have to be fairly close by to pick up her signals. Florakinesis was where the real issues came into play. Whilst ability strength varied across the reports, the strongest individual they studied could grow massive organic structures from just a few blades of grass. If the girl was alive, she could be a threat, and if she was dead or without her abilities, then someone else close by would pose a larger threat. They couldn't risk going in without a defence.

"I think we should bring Alex and Hollie with us." Monika braced herself for Beth's "are you crazy?"s.

"I don't want to send them in with us, but we'd be out of out depth and without a good defence, if we left them here." Well that was new. "But if it gets gory, I want Alex out of there."

Monika didn't argue, it was a miracle that Beth would allow anyone else to help them in the field and Monika didn't want to push it.

"We won't be able to draft a proper plan until we know our terrain but having Hollie's shields on our side will give us a massive advantage."

"Okay, so until they get back..."

Beth frowned "What do you want?"

"Woah, easy, I'm just bored. I thought that we could walk around the town, like when we used to patrol." Monika put her hands up in her defence. 

"Let me pack up my things, it might do us good to see some sunlight."

It was rare that they ever got out in the daylight, that was what the investigation team did, Hollie and Alex. Monika and Beth would usually do the tougher jobs and chase up leads under the cover of night, made for quick escapes and less questions being asked by the locals. Sure, the community knew well of their presence, but that also made them targets for power thieves. They'd done most of their jobs in the day, until they had been attacked by a group of defects. Monika had managed to get them both out but they had been heavily outnumbered. After that, Beth had made a rule that they never do dirty jobs in the day, no one was going to object. 

Warm open air hit them as Beth locked the door behind them. The light was blinding. White hot August sunlight bore down on them, as they made their path across the driveway. Monika had to squint against the light as she smiled into it. It wasn't long before they were amidst the everyday bustle of the high street. Smiling at the odd familiar face, despite the new threat of being out in the day, it felt simpler. Like they had been thrown back in time, before everything got so dark.

"Hey ladies, fancy seeing you out here." A familiarly smooth voice came from behind them.

"Louis!" Monika practically screamed. She nearly went to hug him but decided it'd be weird and she'd probably crush his tiny frame.

"Hey," Louis smiled "are you guys on duty or can you spare a chat?"

"We're just taking a walk, waiting for H to get back to us on a case." Beth supplied, eyes crinkling with her smile.

"Great," Louis started walking towards the square, the other two in tow "I have just the thing I'd like you guys to look over."

"We aren't out here on work, Lou."

"I know, but— I'll tell you once we're sat down."

After ordering coffees and grinning maybe a bit too widely at the barista, Monika sat down with the two at a square table with cushiony chairs. It was the little things that pleased Monika: the light that reflected on the table, the array of mismatched mugs hung over the counter, and the way the air didn't sag with the smell of ink and smoke. Losing her eyes in the abstract lighting arrangements of the cozy cafe, Monika had forgotten what they had walked in there for. Whilst her cappuccino was great, she was fiercely regretting not going for the strawberry frappuccino that was calling to her from table six. They had put cream in it and everyth—

"So," Beth's voice broke through Monika's thoughts "you brought us to a cafe to buy us coffees?"

Beth eyed Lou suspiciously. Lou had bought himself an americano because he was intimidated by Monika and felt the urge to reassert his masculinity. Monika was sure of this.

"Well, no, you still have that batch of suppressants we sent you?" Lou lowered his voice.

"We still have a healthy supply, do you want them back?" Beth's eyes glinted with confusion.

"What? No, no. Something's come up and we don't know when we can give you a safe batch again." Lou bit his lip.

"What's going on, Lou?" Beth's voice was stone.

"Every time we get a fresh batch in, I get my guy to check over them. Y'know, make sure that they are what we paid for. But this time, when he checked, he told me that it was a completely different chemical structure to anything he has ever seen before." Lou glanced around the room as he spoke. 

"Any idea what it does? What if it's just a new type of suppressant?" 

"Naw, we tested it on Rick, you remember Rick?"

"The pyrokinetic guy that stole all of those clothes?" Monika asked, wrinkling her nose. This guy living in the flats to the west of the town kept on accidentally setting his clothes on fire and had resorted to hopping fences and stealing clothes off of washing lines. He was weird but it was one of the best cases Monika ever had to deal with.

"That's the one. At first he was fine, said he didn't feel anything, two hours later he's yelling and screaming and burning and his hoodie is melting off of him."

"Is he okay?" Beth asked cautiously.

"We managed to inject him with one of the old suppressants but Dan got singed and the wallpaper needs replacing." Lou shrugged.

"Did you send any of these new ones out?"

"What? No! But we aren't the only ones that get this supply, it goes up and down the country. I dont think everyone has the facilities to check the drugs out before they deliver them." Lou flailed his arms in an attempt to further reassure the two that he had everything under control.

"Can you get me the number of the guy who sells you these? I want to chase this up after we finish our current case, this could be something serious if we don't get it sorted quickly."

"Of course," He typed the number into her phone "but I wasn't the one that supplied you with the number." He smirked and Beth smiled in appreciation. Monika slurped her coffee loudly. 

"Thanks for the coffee, Lou, but H is going to be waiting on us." Monika smiled her goodbyes to Lou as they departed from the cafe.

"Phone us if anything happens, Louis." Beth called as she left.

It was cooler in the afternoon and Monika welcomed the thick breeze that met them as they left the cafe. She began up the street, expecting that they'd be heading home, but came to a halt when she noticed the empty space next to her.

"Beth?" She spun. Beth was standing a few paces back, face pinched in thought. Shit, something was up. Whenever something was up, it meant more work.

"Oh right, sorry. I have some things I need to check up on in town, are you okay if I leave you? I'll text if anything weird happens." Beth was doing the wide eye thing. Her eyebrows had raised, loosening the tension around her eyes. Monika didn't want to get separated but she wasn't in the mood to say no.

"Sure, that's cool, I'll head down to the clubhouse."

They waved their goodbyes and Monika started down the pavement. She hoped Beth wouldn't mind her heading down. Hollie and Beth never came down to the clubhouse anymore, Monika was the only one in the agency that still visited. Fortunately, the entrance was set between two buildings, so Monika got some time in the shade.

The familiar sight of exposed brick under peeling paint told her that she had arrived. Monika subconsciously moved her left hand into her side to avoid scratching it against the rusting 'No Humans' sign that had been stuck on the wall. As she made her way down the steps to the door, she could hear that awful tinny piano through the walls. She smiled fondly, hand hovering over the knocker, some things never change.

No need for an ID check, just a knock on the door and a few seconds of eye contact through the grate. It swung open. Warm golden glow poured from the doorway into the alleyway. The chatter that rose from the club was accompanied with a bluesy piano tune that bled with familiarity, much louder now that the heavy door had been shifted. Light shone off of the polished wood furniture, off of the bottles behind the counter, and off of friendly faces. Monika drank it in. The wallpaper was the same colour it had been four months ago.

She prowled through the room, a smile tugging at her cheeks as she approached a group at the bar.

"Aww shoot, you here for the alcohol tax?" The woman behind the bar smiled.

"Naw, we don't tax watered down vodka," Monika grinned and the woman laughed.

"Monika, where've you been, we've been missin' you." She whined.

"Y'know, here and there."

"It's them bloody coppers that have you runnin' up and own for them. If it wasn't for them, you'd be in here every night." She gestured to the room of drunk patrons. 

"They aren't that bad." Monika said halfheartedly.

"If you were still working down here, running jobs like you used to, you'd have enough coin to actually afford a drink. Those human-lovers are causing more harm than good in my eyes." 

"I guess. What's your cheapest spirits?"

Monika chatted with the locals for ages, it was the most socialising she'd done in the past few months combined. It was amazing. A few years back, Monika had been running jobs with a lot of the local defects there. Since the segregation of defect communities, they didn't have many services that the people could rely on, so they had to sort themselves out whenever someone did something wrong. Chasing up debts, deliveries, the occasional burglary. They never did any research or asked the client any questions about their business, beyond what was required for the job. It paid well and Monika rarely had to worry about getting hurt, before the influx of power stealers in the country.

Monika took a sip of the whiskey that had been placed in front of her, suppressing a shudder at the taste. The agency had softened her up, thawed out her hard-earned frozen exterior. Here, she felt delicate, she needed to toughen up if she wanted to be part of the gang again. She stared into her glass, before downing it fast.

 

*

 

"Morning Beth, where's Hollie today?" 

Beth breezed through the doors of the department.

"She out on official DRA business." She grinned as she passed Tessa at the desk and through the door to the drawing room. There was a letter she needed to pick up.

The soft sunlight streamed into the room from the windows and reflected off of the piles of papers stacked on desks. Specs of dust floated in the air before Beth's face, who smiled and waved them away before advancing to a filing cabinet across the room. Tugging the cabinet open, she guided the papers out of their box.

It was a side-project her and Hollie had been working on, a draft for a cooperative government for defects. Just a draft, really, but she could feel the potential in the ink as she ran her hands over the pages. She slid the documents into an envelope with the address pre-written on the outside. Hollie had meant to pop down a few days ago and put it through the post, but they'd received a call from Mrs Lewis and it was forgotten. Thinking of Hollie tightened Beth's chest, she didn't like it when the group was separated, anything could happen to them out there on their own. Lips thinning into a line, she trotted out of the office, waved some goodbyes to Tessa, and promptly posted the package.

Sending a short text to Monika, Beth departed. She assured herself that Hollie and Alex would be fine by themselves, but her legs ached from the speed that she was walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I added a lot to this because I felt like it wasn't long enough. Most of this was written at 2am and I havent checked over it but the guilt of not updating got to me so take your goddamn chapter
> 
>  
> 
> Monika: Finally we get to not think about the investigation
> 
> Louis: Knock knock, I'm here to ruin your day
> 
>  
> 
> *  
>  
> 
> Beth: This is really important and we need to protect our community
> 
> Monika: I want that frappuccino
> 
>  
> 
> *
> 
>  
> 
> Beth: I'm going to post some potentially country-changing documents that Hollie and I have been working on
> 
>  
> 
> Monika: I'm going to grab a drink with some human-hating lowlives, catch you later


	4. Thunderclouds

Alex wasn't exactly sure where he was. One second, he was walking back to the truck, loosely swinging his keys around his finger, whistling that song that Monika always makes him listen to. The next, he was underwater, tasting salt.

Frantically, he kicked his legs out, feeling the resistance of his trousers against his legs. He clawed upwards with his arms, trying to reach the source of light that cut through the water. His head pounded with the urge to breathe in, a frantic heartbeat coursing through his body. He flailed and twisted about, too many thoughts flying through his head at once, as he felt the pressure overwhelm him.

 

*

 

Hollie had been connected to the mind of the Lewis girl for what seemed like an eternity. The plain of her mind, unsurprisingly, was a small tropical island. Fitting, what with the seashell necklace and all. It wasn't like the beach was unpleasant, it was warm and aesthetically pleasing, but she would've liked to get this hunt over with so that she could go back to the real world. She couldn't find the girl anywhere, not in the sea, not in the lagoon, and not in the creepy ass cave. Hollie wasn't expecting a welcome, only a gifted telepath can tell when someone is walking through their mind, but she assumed that it would be simple to locate one girl.

Eventually, Hollie ended up just walking along the beach. Maybe the girl was sunbathing or something. Sunlight reflected off of the pale sand and forced her to squint. Could you get a tan from mind-sunlight? Hollie hoped so. As she idly gazed into the sea, Hollie briefly considered paddling in the clear waves but reminded herself that it wasn't a leisure trip. She had a job to do.

In her peripherals, a light caught her eye. Something along the tree line glinted in the sunlight, reflecting blinding white rays into Hollie's face. Trudging towards the flicker, she realised that it was a piece of metal that had been discarded in the undergrowth. Coarse grass had curled around in unnaturally, almost pinning it to the ground, she had to tug on it hard before the blades started snapping. Weird, no sign of the girl and the vegetation was acting fishy, Hollie's stomach twisted. The scrap of metal was weather-worn and rusting around the edges, she flipped it around to find bold letters engraved into it. 'Honeydale Farm'. A clue? Hollie loved a good clue.

"Alright, you wanna play it cryptic? I can do cryptic." She muttered to the island.

She walked further into the trees, metal sign firmly clutched between her hands, hoping to find some sort of breadcrumb trail. It became apparent that she was going in circles when she came across the same fallen tree for the third time. Cursing the stupid complicated mindscape, she found her way back to the beach and sat on a rock, trying to reevaluate her options. 

The grass was trying to hide the sign, maybe protect it. What could that mean? Is the mind trying to protect itself? Maybe she has metal barriers that Hollie overlooked. Or a telepath could be working with her, trying to conceal her location for her, they'd have to be powerful for her to not detect them but it was still a possibility. That would make finding her ten times harder. Hollie groaned into her hands.

"Something on your mind?"

Hollie screamed and fell off of the rock. Was there another telepath here? Is it the girl's subconscious? If her mental defences had been set off then she would have to get out fast. Damn, breaking that grass could have alerted the systems. She brought her hands up to defend herself.

"Woah, Hollie relax, it's me." That voice sounded awfully familiar. 

She looked up to see Alex, dripping wet and grinning like an idiot. Water droplets fell from his hair and his nose, staining the sand beneath him. Hollie opened her mouth to ask something but she didn't know what to start with, so she just gaped at him.

"Are you alright?" 

"Yeah, brilliant, wha—how are you here?" She leant back on her hands as she stared up at Alex, who scratched the back of his head, sending droplets flying. 

"I was kinda hoping that you would know that. There I was, walking back to the car, and suddenly I'm underwater, not knowing where I am or how I got there. I get on shore, walk around for a bit and see you sittin' on a rock. Huh, real lucky for these things" he pulled his head to the side to expose three raised, jagged lines along his neck "or else I probably would have drowned." Hollie raised herself to her feet and peered closer.

"Are those—?"

"Hell yeah, your boy's got gills. Figure that's part of the reactive adaptation, pretty neat, don't you think?"

"Yeah, neat, might come in handy. Tell Beth about it when we get back, she'll be interested." She paused and shook her head "Wait, that doesn't explain why you are even here in the first place. Maybe you got sucked in when I initiated the bond, it's never happened before, but it could be possible." Hollie's lips formed a thin line.

"Maybe we still have that link from when you got that hitchhiker out of my head." He suggested.

"Maybe. Have you seen anything weird? Like random pieces of metal? Angry plants? A girl?"

"Just you and the island. Though," Alex looked at the horizon over Hollie's shoulder "that mist over there looks pretty weird."

Hollie spun on her heels, eye's scanning said horizon. A dark mist-like cloud hung over the water, that meant—

"It's a storm. Mind's natural defences, must've detected one of us. Damn, I shouldn't have taken that sign. Right, okay I need to pull us out, if it damages us while we are in here, it could lead to permanent psychological damage." She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow, already beginning to cut the mental links.

"Wait, what? Permanent damage? Hold on." He put his hand on her shoulder but she was unfazed. Great. Okay, Alex, you've gotten yourself into a pickle this time. Just trust Hollie, she knows what she is doing. He glanced worriedly at the approaching cloud. The sight punched the air out of his lungs. Did he have lungs? Or was it just his gills now? Would they go or was he stuck with gills forever? Jesus, one crisis at a time please.

Okay, the storm was getting closer and Hollie was focusing on her magical mental shit. She was holding palms up in front of her and her eyes were shifting behind her eyelids. Alex looked past her again. The storm had reached the edge of the shore. He glanced at her for any sign that she was nearly done. What if she didn't finish before the storm hit them?

Alex took a deep breath. Hollie was vulnerable and couldn't use her own abilities to defend herself. His hands were free, but he didn't know what to do. He couldn't alter weather, or influence mindscapes, or create shields, or heal people. What good could he do? 

He stood there helplessly, watching as the storm crawled closer.   
Wind tugged his hair in every direction, forcing him to squint through it. Gritting his teeth, he brought his arm up in front of his face, glancing over to see if Hollie was okay. She was miraculously unbothered by the storm. Her hair was a swirling dark mass around her head, arms raised and eyes closed in stony concentration. Alex's chest felt like someone was tightening a belt around it. Rain crashed down over them.

He scrambled to Hollie's side and desperately grasped her shoulders, eyes searching for some kind of response from her. Thunder quaked through the ground. His gaze snapped up to the dark monstrosity that rolled and crashed above them, light cracking inside the cloud. He was frozen. Couldn't move, not even shiver in the icy cold wind. Watching the sky, eyes wide in fear, as a blinding light came over them. He spared one fleeting glance at Hollie before he clamped his eyes shut.

He expected to die. Honest to god he thought that neither of them would see sunlight again. Something cold was on his cheek, and wet. But the rest of him was dry, not weighed down by sea water and, most importantly, not fried by lightening. His eyes burst open.

Alex probably would have fainted in relief, had he been standing up. However, he was lying flat on the concrete, cheek in a small puddle of drool, in the middle of the petrol station. Blearily he blinked around, spotting the keys that he'd dropped, and shakily grabbing at them. He pulled them to his chest and rolled onto his back. Letting out a trembling sigh, he sat up.

He should be thankful that he is alive, that Hollie pulled them out fast enough, that he wasn't turned into a human vegetable. However, all he could feel was shame. It had been so dangerous, and he'd been helpless. His abilities could be useful, he knew that they were strong, but he had been powerless against a goddamn storm. The weather. If he couldn't protect his friends from a cloud, how could he protect them against power thieves, against defect criminals.

Clambering to his feet, he got back to the car and tightly pulled the door shut behind him.

"Do you mind if I nap the way home, that improvised exit has me drowsy." Hollie stretched her arms so that they just brushed the roof and groaned.

"No problem." Alex managed to smile jerkily and adjusted his grip on the wheel. He turned the key in the ignition, changed gear, and drove out of the station.

Tensing his arms, he decided that he would ask Beth and Monika about his abilities when they got back to the house. He wanted to be able to use his abilities like they did, he wanted to be useful. Standing there helpless on that beach, unable to reach Hollie, he never wanted to be in that situation again. He would make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this took a long time to write I'm not even sorry no one is reading this so I have no responsibilities. I also didn't know what to call this one so it's dedicated to my new favourite bop. Also this is the beginning of Alex's character shift so like, prepare your asses for some vigilant shit from him from here on out. 
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> Hollie: I'm going to find the Lewis girl
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> Georgia's mind: lmao I don't think so
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> Hollie [to the storm]: You fucked up a perfectly good driver is what you did. Look at him. He's got anxiety.
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> Beth: Hey Hollie and Alex are just stopping for fuel, they'll be fine
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> Alex: *literally drowning in the ocean*

**Author's Note:**

> This is only a crack(ish) thing for my friends, but I will accept any constructive criticism from anyone interested. I just threw this universe together so if anyone notices any holes, please point them out.


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